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RAVENSONG
CANOE
SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA
WORLDS TALLEST
TOTEM
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Eagle Shuttle 18k Gold Casting is
now
available. Limited Edition e-mail us for more info
billhelin@shaw.ca
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Tsimshian
artist Bill Helin worked together with Astronaut Tom Heinricks
to design the Crew Patch for Columbia Space Shuttle STS-78.
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STS - 78 Patch Description:
The STS-78 patch links past with present to tell the story of its mission and science through a design imbued with the strength and vitality of the
2-dimensional art of North America’s Northwest coast Indians. Central to the design is the space Shuttle whose bold lines and curves evoke the
Indian image for the eagle, a native American symbol of power and prestige as well as the national symbol of the United States. The wings of the
Shuttle suggest the wings of the eagle whose feathers, indicative of peace and friendship in Indian tradition, are captured by the U forms, a
characteristic feature of Northwest coast Indian art. The nose of the Shuttle is the strong downward
curve of the eagle’s beak...the Shuttle’s forward windows - the eagle’s eyes - represented through the tapered S
forms again typical of this Indian art form. The basic black and red atoms orbiting the mission number recall the original NASA emblem while
beneath, utilizing Indian ovoid forms, the major mission scientific experiment package LMS (Life and Materials Sciences) housed in the
Shuttle’s cargo bay is depicted in a manner reminiscent of totem-pole art. This image of a bird poised for flight, so common to Indian art,
is counter pointed by an equally familiar Tsimshian Indian symbol, a pulsating sun with long hyperbolic rays, the symbol of life. Within
each of these rays are now encased crystals, the products of this mission’s 3 major,
high-temperature materials processing furnaces. And as the sky in Indian lore is a lovely open country, home of the
Sun Chief and accessible to travelers through a hole in the western horizon, so too, space is a vast and beckoning landscape for explorers
launched beyond the horizon.
 
Beneath the Tsimshian sun, the colors of the earth limb are appropriately enclosed by a red border representing
life to the Northwest coast Indians. The Indian colors of red, navy blue, white, and black pervade the STS-78 path. To the right of the
Shuttle-eagle,the constellation Delphinus recalls the dolphin, friend of ancient sailors and, now perhaps too, of the 9 space voyagers
suggested by this constellation’s blaze of 9 stars. The
patch simultaneously celebrates international unity fostered by the Olympic spirit of sports
competition at the1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. Deliberately poised over the city of Atlanta, the Space
Shuttle glows at its base with the 5 official Olympic rings in the 5 Olympic colors
which can also be found throughout the patch, rings and colors which signify the 5continents of the earth. This is an international
mission and for the first time in NASA patch history, astronauts have dispensed with
identifying country flags beneath their names to celebrate the spirit of international unity so characteristic of this flight.
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STS-78: Bob Thirsk
This personal mission patch commemorating Bob Thirsk's flight aboard STS-78
in June 1996 features the bold art forms of Northwest Coast native culture.
A powerful, soaring eagle-a traditional symbol of prestige and friendship-represents
the space shuttle Columbia and its mission. The Life and Microgravity Spacelab
module and the Extended Duration Orbiter pallet are characterized stylistically
within the eagle's neck and chest. A radiating sun, the indigenous peoples'
symbol for life, represents material science investigations. The yellow
horizon which lines the orbiter tail symbolizes the partnership between
the on-board crew and humanity on Earth. The crest was designed by Tsimshian
artist Bill Helin |
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